2011-04-19 - Bart Gets a Warning Label (er, Codename)
The streets of Hobb's Bay are unusually empty tonight, which causes an eery quietness to fall over the area. Outside of ZAP Electronics, a mom-and-pop sort of electronics store, three small-time thugs seem to be up to no good. The smallest of the trio is fast at work trying to pick the lock on the shop's door as the other two look around nervously. "Come on, Vinnie, we ain't got all night," says one in a gruff voice. "Yeah, that bat creature they've been talkin' about might show up, eh?" the third man adds with a nervous chuckle. Vinnie continues fiddling with the lock and replies, "That ain't even funny, Chuck. I heard from a reliable source that guy's real." A deep growl of a voice from behind them retorts, "As real as it gets." The criminals each turn, wide-eyed, and look into the face of the 'bat creature' himself... The Batman. The biggest of the three, who was the first man to speak, finds himself on the business end of a punch to the throat. He stumbles backwards into the wall. The other two men begin screaming like little girls. Such fine planning should not go to waste. Unfortunately for Batman, that's when Wildcat's "Trainee," one Bart Allen, appears in a blur of red and white with crackles of golden energy. Perched atop a nearby building, Bart spots the activity below and decides, by golly, he's just GOT to help! So, without so much as a bit of hesitation, he zooms down the side of the building and leaps at the nearest thug! "Heydon'tlooknow," he shouts, "it'safoot!" And, just as he promises, he aims a kick at the thug's head, propelled at inhuman speed. Wildcat is running across two buildings, "Trainee!" He skids to a halt at the edge of the building as he watches thug #1 go down via Bart's foot and he groans. Because he sees none other than Batman. He then sighs, and does what needs to be done. He hangs down from a roof top edge, drops to a canopy below, and then rolls off that and onto his feet on the road. His knees bending to absorb the impact. He's still too far away to take care of the third man, but he is sure Batman and Bart have it well taken care of. Batman glances at the two men laying on the ground -- one unable to talk due to being punched in the throat, the other unconscious. He then looks at the third man, little Vinnie, standing alone in front of the door, eyes wide and lips trembling. "P-p-please... don't h-hurt me..." Batman ignores him and gives Bart a stern look. "You just knocked out the only one of these three punks who knows why the real reason their boss is having them go through the trouble of breaking into this store. I can tell you it's not just to steal TVs." Bart stops, mid-leap at Vinnie, and instead rebounds off the side of the building to land near Batman. He looks up (and, at least, in his own mind, up, and up, and up...) at Batman, and behind Bart's goggles his eyes go wide. "Erm," he fumbles awkwardly, "I, uh..." he cringes a bit and finishes weakly, "Sorry?" By the time Wildcat gets across the street, his prediction was correct. The remaining thug is taken care of, sorta. He is frozen stiff with fear. "Sorry," he says toward Batman, "I tried to stop him, butwell, Trainee is impulsive. He sees, he dos." Yes, dos, not does. Who needs proper English anyway? Wildcat talks like a Hobb's Bay native! Not that he doesn't know big words, like impulsive. Ya, real big word, or something like that. He shrugs his large, wide shoulders vague. "What can you do?" Father of the year award? Does not go to Wildcat. He moves to pat Impulse's head, "There, there kid. Don't cry." Wildcat sounds vaguely amused. He intimidates with his fists, and can be very fierce when training combat, or in a fight, but out of it? Not overly, not like Batman anyway. He can also get kicks in his own way. Toward Vinnie he suddenly yells out a, "Boo!" Just to see what happens. This is not turning out to be a good night for Vinnie -- first Batman, then this... kid, and now one of the most well-known vigilantes in the city, Wildcat. He lets out a shrill, girlish scream at Wildcat's taunt, stumbles backwards into the door, and falls flat on his butt on the concrete. Batman turns to Wildcat. "These guys are connected to the crime family who have been stockpiling energy weapons over the last several weeks. They're planning something big, and this attempted robbery is connected. Harvey over there was just the muscle and doesn't know anything, so he would be useless even without a bruised trachea. Vinnie here's only asset to the family is that he knows how to pick locks... but obviously not very well. He knows nothing. But Chuck -- the one your trainee just knocked unconscious -- is the brains of this group, and I use that term very loosely. But now that he's unconscious, he's no use to me. By the time he wakes up, the cops will be here thanks to the silent alarm that Vinnie doesn't realize he tripped." He looks at Bart again. "You're too impulsive, kid." Bart relaxes a little at Wildcat's reassurance, but when Batman gives his brief lecture and disapproving appraisal, Bart cringes a bit again. He can't help it -- Batman is SCARY. At being told he's too impulsive, though, he actually looks a little confused. "T--um, Wildcat said that, but... what do you, um... mean?" Wildcat laughs roughly at Vinnie's reaction, then reaches down to pick up the 'know-it-all' thug by the back of his collar. "Don't worry Batsy, I'll get your answers," he says with a grin that will later be sending cold chills down his prisoner's back. He then points to Vinnie, "You will be confessing." He then pulls out a cell phone from the top of a boot and opens it up to make a phone call. There are a few rings as he lets Batman deal with Bart, and then he starts talking into the phone, "Silent alarm at," and he provides the rough address. "Two boys to pick up, third has to regain alertness to answer a question o' two. I'll drop him off to 'find' a couple alleyways away, usual pattern." He grunts, "You going to rob my fridge of beer at this rate!" But he hangs up. Batman nods at Wildcat, but he is obviously unhappy at how this -- what should have been an easy and minor bust -- has turned out. He turns his attention back to the speedster teen, but seeing his somber and scared expression, he softens very slightly. He knew another impulsive teen once. "It means you do things without thinking them through... You act before considering the consequences of your actions. You have a great ability, and, more importantly, the desire to use it for good. But you can't jump into things so quickly. It's reckless and dangerous." He pauses for a moment. "In fact, I think I'll call you Impulse. It's better than 'Trainee,' and maybe it will remind you to think things through. It comes from the Latin 'impulsus,' meaning 'a sudden force.' Seems to fit your other qualities, too." A lot of that explanation is lost on Bart, really, especially that stuff about Latin. However, he does nod with great sincerity at Batman's admonishments, and once he's thought it over for a second or two, he abruptly breaks into a grin. "Impulse?" he echoes, and then he's abruptly gone, only to reappear atop a nearby building, where he's sped up, to crow brightly for all the surrounding neighborhood to hear, "I'M IMPULSE!" At least he doesn't add, "Batman said so." Wildcat pauses then face palms, "Why didn't I think of that?" He then looks toward Batman, "This is why you are the detective. I'm just the one the kids eat out of house and home," he adds with a grumble." But he then adds, "Ah...about that side-project I mentioned, with the girl? Something came up," he advises, referring to Cassie. "I'll tell you about it later." He then starts to drag off the one thug for questioning even as police sirens are heard, shaking the thug as he does so, trying to get him to wake up. He does at least call back, "Impulse, get your arse over here before I kick it! You got guard duty, and don't wander off!" The vaguest hint of an amused smirk plays on Batman's mouth. "I'll be in touch, then. You two be safe." And before Wildcat even has a chance to reply, if he were going to, Batman is gone. Category:Logs